One of the great joys of working in
Family History is reading the incredible histories behind some of the families. The histories of our ancestors can be great learning tools, a wonderful way to help current generations remember those who have gone before. In the last few days I have been made aware of one of those amazing families, the
Oppenheimer family.
The family story begins with
Max Oscar Oppenheimer, who was born on the
19th of April 1915, in
Schrobenhausen, Bayern, Germany. Max was the oldest of two sons born to
David and
Maria Kraus Oppenheimer. Max, is on the left in the picture here,
next to his brother
Ernst. We know from the family records that from
May to October of
1940, Max was forced to work in the
Ziegelei (brick factory) at
Hochfeld, Augsburg. It was while working there that an accident cost him his right index finger.
Fortunately, he was able to get out of Germany, and on the
23rd of Mar 1940, he set sail out of
Genoa, Italy on the
SS George Washington, headed for a new home. On
1 Apr 1940, with
$9 in his money, he arrived in
New York City.
At about the same time, on
16 Nov 1923, in
Bad Wildungen, Hessen, Germany, a daughter was born to
Isidor and
Lina Lilenstein Mannheimer (pictured at right), named
Erika. Her life was much different than of Max Oppenheimer. In
November of
1941, she moved to
Kassel, where her parents were already living, and less than three weeks later she was rounded up and deported to the
Riga Ghetto, she being prisoner number
62042. Over the next four years she was deported from one Concentration Camp to another, including
Matau, Kasierwald, Stutthof, and finally
Thorn-Korben. Finally, on the
27th of January 1945,
Erika was liberated from a camp in
Bromberg. Her mother also was liberated but her father was murdered in
1942 in Riga. Erika made her way to
Bremen, where on the
22 of August 1946 she sailed for America. She arrived on
31 August on board the
SS Marine Perch.
The evil that Erica and the millions of others faced daily can never possibly be put into words. Hopefully, families will continue to share the stories of those who didn't return, we must never let them be forgotten.
Even though they came to America and different times, under different conditions, their paths would cross. On the
14th day of June in
1947, Erica and Max were married in New York City. The engagement card (pictured at left) even identifies the hometown of each of the bride and groom. From
1947 till 1959 the couple lived in
Brooklyn, until moving to
Flushing, Queens, New York.
The story of Erica and Max, and their families has been beautifully compiled by a child
Richard Oppenheimer. His work on this family has yielded a database that now holds almost
3,000 people, and hundreds of photos and stories. In addition to the Oppenheimer and Mannheimer families, other families include the
Lilenstein, Nussbaum, Metzger, Kraus and
Luchs families, covering over
300 years in Germany. A special thanks to Richard Oppenheimer for the sharing of the history of this family. His database is now being added to the
Knowles Collection- Jews of Europe database and will be available shortly.
